The problem

The costing team needed to visualise large volumes of data. We wanted to do this better, because otherwise we would not see the wood for the trees! One patient record from the costing system output was 40 pages in length. This proved cumbersome when reviewing patient allocations and when answering queries from colleagues.

The challenge

How might we visualise this data so that we can identify the normal range of costs and any outliers, to catalyse clinical change and improvements in patient services?

The outputs

A series of dashboards that assist in validating our data quality and allow conversations to start with clinicians and other providers of data in the costing process, such as internal departments within the trust, around data quality around pharmacy issues. Also, the data visualisations could inform clinical practices about what is happening currently and help shape future decision making in relation to the patient journey through our services.

The outcomes

Our ultimate aim is always to improve service user experience. Direct benefits of the project identified so far include:

• providing clinicians with convenient access to costing data they have not previously been able to view
• improving clinicians’ understanding of, and engagement with, costing data
• using costing data as part of benchmarking efforts to focus attention on areas where clinical practice is optimal and can be used to inspire improvement in areas of relative under-performance.